


The Long Awaited Promise of Rest

by Galrafloofandlove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Burns, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Minor Injuries, Missions Gone Wrong, Season/Series 04, Shallurieth if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 13:31:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16265222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galrafloofandlove/pseuds/Galrafloofandlove
Summary: “Keith?”The soft and worried tone nearly made Keith jump out of his skin from surprise.Shiro, who had entered the medbay while Allura was rummaging through the cabinet, gave Keith one of the most panicked expressions he’d ever seen as the black paladin laid his flesh hand gently on his right shoulder without saying another word. Keith could tell he wa trying to calm Keith down even if Shiro was more worried than him.~~~~~~Or, a Blade mission goes wrong and Keith's only option for medical help is the castle.





	The Long Awaited Promise of Rest

He docked his travel pod at the hangar of the castle, not necessarily wanting to be there, but it was the closest area to receive help for his injuries after the Blade mission gone awfully wrong. It must be their night cycle, he concluded by the lack of shining lights. He rubbed at his aching wrists and noticed the rip in the left arm of his uniform, exposing the scraped and bleeding palms, littered with cuts and marks that were almost certain to bruise over, and even perhap leave a tiny scar. His wrist had a bulls’ eye burn mark in the center, with a thick line burned into his skin as well, running from the top of his wrist underneath the bulls’ eye and stopped just above the crease of his elbow. He suspected his other hand was less damaged, with only a few cuts here and there. He peeled the remaining fabric covering his hand off and noticed his knuckles were bleeding from the few punches he had to throw just to make it out of that awful base alive.  
He sighed as he grabbed his wrist again, hissing in pain.  
He never liked going to the medbay. The excessive questioning from his team and how much he was told to not train or not go out on missions until he’s healed- it was bullshit in his opinion. This was a war, and the Blade didn’t seem to care about the wellbeing of its members anyway, since they would be often left to die if something went wrong. But due to the fact he couldn't touch any part on his left arm under the elbow without excruciating pain, he turned right into the hallway next to the medbay and started walking.

~~~~~~

“Keith?” Allura turned as he heard the door to the medbay swish open, surprised to see the former red paladin walking slowly towards the medical bed next to where she was fixing up sorting medications.  
“Hi, Allura.” He responded dully as he continued limpy moving towards the white sheet covered metal table, the castle’s poor excuse for a examination surface and medical bed. “I-uh, need help.” He stumbled over his words as he approached the table, and nearly collapsed in a lifeless heap instead of gently sitting down. As a compromise between the two, however, he ended up sitting down by using his wrists to stabilize himself out of instinct.  
He let out quite a loud whine at the pressure leaning on his left wrist, the whine sounding like a cat who had just had its tail stepped on.  
“Hey, hey.” Allura said with a gentle voice as she helped Keith off his wrists and saw red droplets staining the otherwise clean sheets.  
Her eyes widened at that sight. “What...exactly happened?” She said, looking at the blood dripping off his blade uniform.  
“Mission...lost...got hit by...druid…magic.” Keith managed to choke out between pants, trying to regain air as even the trek from the hangar to the medbay took too much out of his lungs.  
Allura nodded in understanding and turned to grab something from the cabinets next to where Keith was sitting.  
As she moved through the cabinet, the sound of glass canister bumping up against each other and various tools making a loud clunk as they brushed up against each other. The noise almost distracted Keith such that he barely heard his name from across the room.  
“Keith?”  
The soft and worried tone nearly made Keith jump out of his skin from surprise.  
Shiro, who had entered the medbay while Allura was rummaging through the cabinet, gave Keith one of the most panicked expressions he’d ever seen as the black paladin laid his flesh hand gently on his right shoulder without saying another word. Keith could tell he was trying to calm Keith down even if Shiro was more worried than him.  
Allura emerged from the cabinet, with a roll of white fabric and tubes of ointment filling her hands. “He’s going to be okay Shiro. You can go back to bed.” She said as she took Keith’s left hand to examine it and Keith let out a small yelp of pain.  
“I’ll stay here, Princess.” Shiro decided as he sat down on the bed next to Keith, wrapping his human arm around Keith’s waist and pulling him close, so that Keith’s head was resting on Shiro’s shoulder.  
Allura gave a confused glance at Shiro as Keith’s eyes slowly fluttered closed, but didn’t question how the blade member had fallen asleep just under Shiro’s touch. There wasn’t a doubt in Allura’s mind the two had a thing for each other, but she didn’t think it to be the extreme in which one of them in extreme pain would fall asleep immediately after resting on the other.  
Still, it was better Keith was asleep for medical purposes, so she tried not to think about it as she started disinfecting the cuts on his palms and blood on his knuckles, applying ointment before wrapping them carefully in pure white gauze. She did this all while Keith only let out a quiet, soft whine every now and then, his eyes staying closed the entire time.  
She spread the special Altean cream for burns on Keith’s arm. The formula for such had been made specially for injured flesh that had been scalded by weapons, or in the battlefield. Allura almost used the entire small jar of it, making sure to cover every inch of the complex bulls’ eye and the large line running down to his elbow. Once again, Keith did merely nothing except for tiny whimpers and a slight shake when she had first started to apply the cream, most likely due to its chilly temperature.  
Once she finished, her eyelids were heavy with the promise of sleep on the horizon as she laid Keith’s bandaged arm down on the bed next to him.  
As she packed up the supplies, she noticed that as well as Keith being out cold, so was Shiro, his flesh arm still wrapped around Keith’s waist. 

Allura smiled as she left the medbay for her own bed.  
She hadn't always been nice to Keith. After the Galra reveal, she started to hold a grudge. But that all melted away with the quick passing of time, and even with her apology she still felt as if she owed him. She owed them both for helping her in the revolt of the Galra Empire. Without Shiro, the paladins would have never come together and work as a team, and without Keith, Voltron would've never had a leader in the time without Shiro.  
She was more than happy to leave the two alone for a good night’s sleep. 

~~~~~~

She arrived a little late at breakfast the next morning, being the last person aside from Shiro and Keith.  
“Mornin’ Princess.” Pidge said as she entered, not looking up from where they were typing on their computer.  
“Buenos Dias.” Lance looked up from the bowl of goo he was eating.  
Allura smiled. She never understood the language he liked to greet her in, but she learning it meant something as a term of well being said in the early doboshes of the day, like the ‘good morning” the others said.  
“Hello, Lance. Pidge.” She nodded in their direction as she took a seat at the breakfast table next to Lance, just as Coran entered the kitchen.  
“Ah! Princess, you’re awake!” Coran exclaimed, his eyes wandering around the rest of the room. “Uh, number five, number three, have you seen Shiro on this fine day?”  
Pidge barely even registered the question, before responding “Nope.”  
Lance tapped a finger to his chin, looking deep in thought. “Can’t say I have, Coran.” He responded after a few ticks.  
Allura bit her tongue. If Shiro hadn’t arrived for breakfast yet, that meant he was still in the medbay with Keith.  
“Princess?” Coran asked next.  
“Well, I do know where he is. But, let’s not disturb them.” She said as she stood up to grab a bowl of food goo.  
“Them?” Pidge looked up from their laptop at the use of that word.  
“Yes, them.” Allura said, sitting back down and starting to eat.  
The paladins and Coran seemed confused, but ended brushing it off. If the Princess wasn’t worried, then there was no need for panic. 

Later, Allura checked the medbay and saw the two were gone. But Keith’s pod was still docked and the door to Shiro’s room swished quietly opened.  
Allura took the liberty of locking it once she saw the two cuddling against each other in Shiro’s bed.  
Allura didn't dare disturb them past that. Shiro had extra stress as of recent with the return of Zarkon and the disappearance of Lotor, and Keith had been seemingly exhausted when they were on videos chats with the blade. She assumed both hadn't been getting as much sleep without each other for comfort from nightmares. 

They should have a break, and both seemed to need some extra rest. They deserved it.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr](https://galrafloofandlove.tumblr.com)! || [Twitter](https://twitter.com/GalraFloof)


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